Ricky Ian Gordon has written a cycle of songs about flowers. In this episode, we hear one of them. Rachmaninoff wrote a song called “Lilacs.” We hear that, too. Bach opens his Goldberg Variations with an aria (and closes the work with that same aria). Tchaikovsky’s wrote a couple of blockbuster arias in The Queen of Spades. And on we go.

Gordon, “We should not mind so small a flower”

Rachmaninoff, “Lilacs”

Bach, Goldberg Variations

Tchaikovsky, Lisa’s Aria from Act III of “The Queen of Spades”

Tchaikovsky, Prince Yeletsky’s Aria, Act II, “The Queen of Spades”

Tchaikovsky, “It was in early spring”

Shostakovich, Prelude in D-flat major

Bach-Kempff, Siciliano